When a Stranger Calls
by SaltyBubblegum
Summary: On Halloween night, Alex Russo has to babysit three little kids. Couldn't get any worse, right? What happens when she gets strange phone calls? What happens when the calls become threatening?
1. Babysitting?

**I was watching **_**When a Stranger Calls**_** last night, and I don't know why, but I got reeeeeeaaallly inspired to do this! I'm still working on **_**Life as We Knew It**_**, but I wanna try this out and see how it goes :D**

**I didn't know where to put this under, so I put it under Horror. I wish there was a Thriller...**

**Sorry for any grammatical errors! Enjoy!**

* * *

"Babysitting?" I exclaimed. "You've got to be kidding me, right?" All I did was go over my phone bill! By 300 dollars. But this was stupid! Babysitting? Really? I swiveled around in my stool to face my parents walking to our bright orange couch.

My mom sat down and stated, "Alex, you know we have strict rules over going over your minutes. Do you know how much it'll cost us? So, yes. Babysitting seems like an appropriate punishment for you."

"Why can't you just make me skip a meal like normal parents? Or make me work an extra shift downstairs? I mean, seriously! Anything but babysitting!"

"Alex is babysitting? Sweet," my older brother Justin stated. He entered the room from the lair.

I glared at him. I walked over to the couch and sat next to my dad. "Daddy, please! Can't I just do something else? I'm sorry for going over my minutes." I stuck out my lower lip and gave him the puppy dog look.

His stern expression broke for just a second and turned soft. He pulled it back together and said, "Alex, that stopped working for me last year. You're babysitting, and that's final."

I groaned and fell back onto the couch. "_Ugh_! Fine..." I stressed out the word. "When do I have to do it?"

"Tonight," my parents both said in unison.

My mouth dropped. "_Tonight_? But it's Halloween! Harper and I are going to a Halloween party!"

Justin balanced against the kitchen counter. He smiled wide and said, "I am so enjoying this."

My mother shook her head. "That's the price you pay, mija. Hopefully you'll learn your lesson."

I threw up my hands. "This is _so_ unfair! Can't it be tomorrow or the day after that? Mom, come on. You were a so-called 'popular kid' in school; you have to know how much this matters to me!"

Justin shook his head unconvincingly.

My mom nodded her head. "I _was _extremely popular in school - don't doubt that. _Very_ popular. I remember all of the parties I went to back then, - since I was so extremely popular - and I know what you're going through." She swept away some of her hair. "But you're still going, Alex."

"Great. This is perfect," I stated sarcasticly.

Justin interjected. "Oh, boo-hoo. So you miss a party; what's the big deal?"

"Stay out of this, egghead. Like you're even doing anything." I raised a finger. "And if you are, you're probably going over to Zeke's and squeal over how amazing it is that you have a robot to pass out candy for you while watching stupid Sci-Fi movies."

He squinted at me. "So? What if we are? You'll be babysitting three kids under the age of ten."

A dropped my mouth and turned to my parents. "What? _Three kids? _I'm not even good with one, let alone _three_!"

My mom got up and headed for the kitchen. "Alex, the McCoy's said they were all sick anyways. They'll be sleeping the whole time." She grabbed some chips and placed them in a bowl.

I huffed and crossed my arms. "Whatever. I am _not _changing any diapers though."

"I'd love to see that," Justin stated. He grabbed a chip and munched on it.

"I bet you would," I stated snarkily.

My mom placed her elbows down on the counter. "Oh, and, Justin? You're driving her by the way."

His hand froze halfway into eating another chip. "What? Mom, come on. She can drive herself."

Dad said, "It's too long of a drive. We don't want her driving home in the dark."

I pointed at him. "Ha-ha."

He mumbled under his breathe.

* * *

"This is a _long_ drive," I stated. We'd been driving down the same winding road for the past half hour. Before that, we'd been driving around for fifteen miuntes.

He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. "Yeah, and you better not call me to pick you up an hour after I drop you off."

I looked at him. "What if I did?" I paused and added, "And what would be so important that you couldn't come and pick me up? Don't tell me you'll be so hypnotized by _Pumpkinhead_."

"So what if I am? It's a long-ass drive, and I don't want drive out here again until you're done babysitting."

"What a courteous brother you are, Justin. I love how much you care for me." I looked out the window on my side, but it was the same scene. Green, green, green, and brown. Just trees and nothing else. On Justin's side, their was a lake. "Who would even want to live out here anyway?" I asked skeptically. "I mean it has to get lonely. I bet they don't even have neighbors."

"That's probably why they asked you to babysit for them," Justin answered like it was the most obvious answer in the world.

Suddenly, the road ended, and a huge house came into view. "Wow," I said.

"That's a nice house," Justin muttered. He pulled up into the drive and turned off the ignition.

We got out of the car and took a closer look at the house. It was large alright. It could be considered a glass house if you thought of it that way. It was three stories and was very chic and modern. They didn't have any decorations up for Halloween, so it kind of looked bleak with with the sun setting. There was a small cabin across the lake.

Justin stated, "I wouldn't mind living here."

I moved my hands up and down my arms to warm myself up. There was a slight breeze. "It's kind of creepy if you ask me."

Justin stared at me solemnly for a moment.

"What?" I asked self-consciously.

He looked away and said, "Let's go inside."

We knocked on the door, and it opened a few seconds later.

A woman stood in the doorway. She yelled, "Eric, she's here!" She wore a tight, light blue tunic with black leggings underneath. She had a pair of black sunglasses perched on top of her dark, straight hair. She seemed to be in her mid-thirties. "Come inside! We're running a late for our dinner reservations, so I'm going to try and make this as quick as possible." She led the way into the living room. "Eric!" she yelled again.

Justin and I traded glances.

"Is this your boyfriend? We'd rather you not have anyone here with you," she asked suspiciously.

"No," Justin and I said at the same time. We were just as quick also.

"He's my brother. He just drove me here," I assured.

She eyed us suspiciously. "Well, alright. Anyways, this is the living room and you can tell. You can watch T.V., listen to music, use the phone; whatever you like." The room was bigger than our kitchen, dining room, and living room put together!

She started to walk again. She lead us to the kitchen. Everything was stainless steel, and I could only imagine how big the pantry was. "Kitchen, as you can tell. Eat whatever you like. Again, there's a phone in here. On the fridge, there's a list of all of the phone numbers. We're heading to dinner first, and we'll probably go to a movie after, so expect us back around midnight." She looked up towards the ceiling. "Eric, for christ's sake!"

She lead the way back into the entryway. "We have a live-in tutor for our children. She lives in the guest house across the lake, but comes in here frequently; so don't be alarmed if there's movement going on anywhere. She might be staying here the whole night or not. She might leave to go take care of her sister who's expecting." She added, "The kids' bedrooms are on the second floor, first and second doors on the right. There's Lacey, Rebecca, and Connor. They're sick with flu, so please don't disturb them. They're also not allowed any sweets after six."

Suddenly, a man came stalking down the steps of the stairs. He had blonde hair and wore a white, button-up shirt with a pair of jeans. He looked the same age as his wife. "Alex, is it?"

I smiled. "That's me."

"Is this your boyfriend?" he asked.

His wife stated, "Brother," with a non-believing expression.

"Ahh." He smiled. "Did my Ariel explain everthing to you? You seem kind of taken-back."

"I think so," I stated.

"Well, if you need anything, there's emergency contacts on the firdge."

"I already told them that," Ariel said annoyingly. She grabbed her purse from the table next to the door.

"We should be leaving then," he said. He opened the door, but added one more thing. "We have - or I should say _had_ - an alarm system, but it's been out of whack lately, so it might go off at random times. If the operator asks for the number, it's _5813_. Oh, and remember, we'd rather you not have company here. We should probably be leaving now. Happy Halloween."

They left.

"The wife's a bitch," I stated automatically.

"Don't curse in front of the kids," Justin stated.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course not."

"Remember, if you need anything just give me a call, okay?" he said genuinely.

"But you just said in the car _not_ to call you."

"If it's not important. But it's not like I'm not going to come back up here if you need anything. I'm starting to worry a bit."

"So now you're feeling sorry, huh?" I asked.

He glanced at his watch. "Look, I need to go. Movies start in an hour."

I waved my hand. "Well, bye then."

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay?" He looked at me sympathetically.

"I can call you?" I asked.

"Of course." He twirled his keys around his finger.

"Then, yes, I will. You better pick up though."

He rolled his eyes. "Bye, Alex."

He shut the door behind him.

I headed straight for the kitchen.

Once I entered, I noticed three little kids eating out of a carton of chocolate ice cream.

A girl with strawberry blonde hair and bright green eyes asked, "You the babysitter?" She couldn't of been older than eight.

"You the kids?" I asked.

"You could say that," the girl stated.

Suddenly, the carton of ice cream fell to the tiled ground.

"Whoopsie," another girl asked. She had brown hair with startling blue eyes and looked five-ish. She had a lisp, so she really sounded like, "Whoopthee."

The ice cream starting to melt down the cracks of the tile.

"Well," I started. I placed my hands of my hips. "This should be fun."

* * *

**Was it good? Sucky?**

**Please review! I'd love you forever and ever. Well, for like a minute, but that's good enough, right? :P**


	2. The Kids

**Enjoy! :)**

**Oh, and holy bajeezus! It may not be a lot for some people, but I got SIX reviews for the first chapter! Erggh! I loved them! I was _very_ honored to get them from everybody, but especially iheartdisney128 and tilante :) Thank you so much!**

* * *

"Now that all of the ice cream's gone, I think it's time for me to learn your guy's names." I had cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, and now we were in the ginormous living room. The three kids were all sitting down on a big black, leather couch, and I was standing up in front of them.

I pointed to the little boy on the left. He had long, straight, light brown hair and the same icey blue eyes like the girl sitting next to him. "So I'm guessing you're Connor?"

He nodded his head.

"Now which one of you is Lacey?"

The little girl in the middle raised her hand slowly. She was the one who had dropped the ice cream. She cowered off a bit towards the little boy next to her.

"You two are twins, right?" I asked. They both had the same features, both looked around the same age, and were both drawn together like magnets.

The little boy whispered, "Yes." He didn't have a lisp.

"Let me get this straight." I pointed to the oldest with the blonde hair. "You're Rebecca." I pointed to shy girl. "You're Lacey." I pointed to the boy. "And you're Connor."

They all nodded.

I puckered my lips. "Well, I'm glad we established that. I'm Alex by the way. The babysitter," as if it wasn't obvious enough.

I stood there for a few moments.

They just stared at me.

Rebecca raised her hand.

I squinted at her. "Yes?"

She placed her hands neatly in her lap. "You're supposed to be babysitting."

I placed my hands on my hips. "I am babysitting!"

"No, you are not. You're just standing there."

"Well, aren't you guys supposed to be sleeping? You're supposed to have the flu."

"We've already recovered three days ago as a matter of fact," she stated smugly.

"Why would your mom say that you still had it?" I asked. It was Halloween! This was the 2nd to best holiday for kids!

"She doesn't want us going trick-or-treating," Rebecca said sadly. She looked down.

"Did you guys already pick out your costumes?" I asked. What was the point of buying a costume if you weren't going to use it?

They all nodded.

"Why don't you go and put them on? We can just pig out on candy and watch -" I paused for a second. They weren't allowed to have sweets after six. They weren't even old enough to watch scary movies! I licked my lips. "Go change into your costumes, and we'll play some games, okay?"

They all ran upstairs.

Suddenly, the phone rang. I walked over to the coffee table and picked it up. "Hello?" I asked.

The line was silent except for the sound of heavy breathing.

"Hel_lo_?"

Still, just the breathing.

I hung up.

I walked back into the kitchen. I walked over to the pantry and opened it. "Whoa..." It was bigger than my room! It was filled cereals, bags of candies, soups, Hamburger Helper, sodas, water, and... ahh.. popcorn. I reached onto the shelf it was perched on and grabbed the popcorn.

I opened it up and placed it in the microwave for two minutes and seven seconds; the universal, popcorn, cooking time.

The phone suddenly rang again.

I looked up from the microwave and walked over to it. I picked it up. "Hello?"

"Alex?" Static echoed through the line.

"Harper?" I asked confused. How did she get this number? "How did you get the number?"

"From Justin. He gave it to me incase you needed someone to talk to," she stated.

"Oh." Well, that was... nice of him. "Are you at the party yet?" The popcorn began to pop behind me.

"What?" she asked. The static was increasing. I could kind of hear background music.

"Are you at the party yet?" I asked more clearly.

"Am I at the party? Yeah, I just got here. You're missing a lot! This party's incredible!"

I turned around to stare at the popcorn popping. "Thanks, Harper. Just what I wanted to hear," I mumbled.

"You can't hear? Alex, you gotta speak up; I can't hear you!" I began to hear the chanting of the word _chug!_ coming through the other end.

"I -" I sighed. "Never mind." I walked over a cabinet and started to look for bowls.

"You changed your mind? About what?"

"Never mind!" I screamed into the phone. I opened another cabinet.

"Alright! Geez, calm down, Alex!" Harper yelled.

"Sorry." There was a strainer in the next cabinet. I had to be close.

"Are the kids little brats? Or are they the kind you want to hug and squeeze and kiss?"

I placed the phone in between my ear and my shoulder as I reached up to a cabinet above the fridge. "They're not bratz. But Harper, I don't think it'd be wise to hug and squeeze and kiss kids you've just met. Kind of creepy much?" _Bingo_. I found the jackpot.

The timer went off.

I went on my tippy-toes and grabbed a bowl. "Look, Harper, I kind of need to go. Can I call you later?" The static over-powered the phone. I had to take it away from my ear for a moment.

"You kind of hate her? Who?"

"I don't hate _anyone_! Harper, I have to go!"

"Wait, who do you hate?"

The line went dead.

I sighed and placed it back on the receiver.

I grabbed the popcorn out of the microwave, shook it out over the sink to get rid of the excess un-popped kernels, opened it, and poured it into the bowl.

Suddenly, I heard screaming and yelling coming from across the hall.

"We're playing Candyland!" Lacey exclaimed.

"No, we're playing Connect Four!"

They all entered the kitchen.

Connor was wearing a pair of cow-printed slackers, a pair of boots with spurs on the end, a leather vest with two red stars on the bottom, a red bandana around the neck, and most importantly, the cowboy hat.

Lacey was dressed a popstar. She had the fake heels, the black, leather pants with the blue feathery cuffs, the black, long-sleeved midfriff also with the blue feathery cuffs, and of course, the headset.

Rebecca was dressed as Alice in Wonderland. She had black pumps, striped leggings, the puffy blue dress, and a black headband. She placed a board game on the counter.

I pointed at Lacey's costume. "You know, I had the same exact costume when I was your age. I was pretending to be Britney Spears."

They all looked at me with confused expressions.

"Tough crowd," I mumbled to myself.

Rebecca placed her hands on her hips and dramatically stated, "The most logical game to play is Scrabble. It teaches you basic words you'll need for the future." She picked the game back up from the counter.

I giggled to myself.

"We can't even _read _yet, Rebecca!" Connor yelled.

"Well, I _can_!" Rebecca stomped her feet and dropped the game to the floor. She crossed her arms and stuck out her lower lip in a pout.

"Hey, you better pick that up," I told her.

She didn't budge.

"I'll tell your mom and dad on you then. I'll say that you were being a meanie and wouldn't play Connect Four and Candyland with us." That always got me mad.

She dropped her mouth. "That's not true!" She balled her hands into fists.

"Well, if you don't pick that game back up and play with us, you're not getting any of this popcorn." To emphasize my threat, I plopped some into my mouth.

Rebecca glared at the ground and bent to pick up the game board.

"Now, ready to have some fun?"

* * *

_"Ooooooooooh! Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!"_

Spongebob was the only kid friendly show on at 7:30. _Halloween, Jeepers Creepers, __Nightmare on Elm Street_, and other rated PG-13 and up movies were the only other options since I couldn't figure out their lame, T.V. system.

"Look, Alex! I have double red!" Lacey exclaimed. A smile claimed her face as she moved her blue gingerbreadman across the board.

This game seemed a lot more fun ten years ago. Now I knew why parents hated these games.

We'd already played six games of Connect Four, and this was our seventh game of Candyland so far.

Rebecca was making it clear she wasn't enjoying herself by sighing loudly every thirty seconds.

We'd gone through two packs of popcorn and were finishing up the third one now.

I could tell they were all getting pretty tired by the way they kept opening their eyes wider and wider every five seconds. After this game, I was calling a quits.

"Alex, can we watch Dora after this?" Connor asked. He moved his piece forward to a blue space.

"Yeah!" Lacey agreed.

"You guys still watch that?" I asked skeptically. I figured they'd be watching newer shows since they hadn't heard of Britney Spears. I tried to press my luck. "Have you guys ever watched _Rugrats_?"

They shook their heads.

"Um... _Bear in the Big Blue House, Winnie the Pooh_? _Out of the Box_, _Rolie Polie Olie_, _Maggie and the Ferocious Beast_? _Dragon Tales? Barney? _Any of those?" I was surprised I could've even remembered those.

They stared at me like they had earlier with a blank, confused expression.

I picked up a card. It had Lord Licorice on it. "Yes," I hissed silently as I moved forward up the board. "Aren't you guys tired? It should be past your bedtimes by now." I paused, "Considering you weren't even asleep when I got here."

They shook their heads unconvincingly.

Maybe not actually focusing on anything really would make them tired. They'd probably fall asleep in the first ten minutes hopefully. "Alright. We can watch it if I can figure out how to turn on the DVD player."

I walked over to the entertainment center and found a box labeled _Dora the Explorer_ on top of the DVD player. I pressed power, and the T.V. blasted out that loud static screen thing.

"Ergh!" I walked over the T.V. and searched for the buttons on the back of it. I pressed one and the screen turned blue. I smiled. "There we go!" I put in the DVD, and the screen became a fiesta.

The phone rang.

I walked over to it and picked it up. "Hello?"

It was the same heavy breathing as the first time.

I sighed. "Hello? If you're not going to answer, I'm not going to pick up next time."

The person didn't respond.

I hung up.

I walked back over to the DVD player and pressed play.

* * *

_"Swiper, no swiping! Swiper, no swiping! Swiper, no swiping!"_

I looked over at the three kids. The twins were cuddled next to each other asleep, and Rebecca was asleep with her head on the big armrest.

I slowly got up. "Now, how am I going to do this?" I whispered to myself.

I walked over to Lacey first and tried to pick her up without waking Connor. I succeeded and walked up the stairs to the room that had foam letters labeling: Connor & Lacey. It was already opened, so I walked in and layed her down on the bed with the flower-printed comforter.

I walked back down stairs and also brought Connor up to his bed also.

They were each starting to wear me down with how heavy they were.

I walked back downstairs and picked Rebecca up. I walked back up the stairs and into her room. I placed her down and pulled up the covers.

"You know I was faking it, right?" she suddenly said.

I whipped around. "Hey, you're supposed to be asleep!"

"Dora's so immature. I couldn't fall asleep even if I wanted to," she stated confusingly.

"Well, you should try to go to sleep now then."

"Okay, but if you need anything, just call me down," she stated.

I laughed. "Same here. Um... bye."

I shut off her light and walked back down stairs.

The phone rang again.

I picked it up, but noticed the called I.D.. _Russo, Justin_.

"Hey."

He didn't answer. There wasn't any breathing, just silence.

I rolled my eyes. "Justin, your name's on caller I.D., genius."

Still no answer.

"Have you been calling here?"

No reply.

"Justin, cut the crap, and answer me!"

Nothing.

I hung up the phone.

I shook my head and began to clean up the mess.

The phone rang again.

I picked it up. "Why have you been calling me?"

The heavy breathing was there again.

"Seriously? Grow up and -"

"What's your name?" a gruff voice asked form the other line. It didn't sound like Justin's, but he could've just made it up.

"Sicko," I declared into the phone.

* * *

**Yeah, this chapter's boring, but I just wanted to get the kids out of the way, haha.**

**BTW, I was a popstar for Halloween once when I was like four, haha. I **_**did**_** try to be Britney Spears; she was my idol :P**

**Please review! :)**


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